Display-form.



PATENTED NOV. 3, 1903.

0. A. UEFORD. DISPLAY FORM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 16, 1902.

NO MODEL.

2 SHEBTS-SHEET 1.

Vi /bra? PATENTED Nov, 3, 1903. c. A. UFFORD. DISPLAY FORM. APPLICATION FILED APR. 16, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT z No Menu,

Patented November 3, 1903.

PATENT QFFICE;

CHARLES A. UFFORD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

DISPLAY-FORM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,115, dated November 3, 1903.

Application filed April 16, 1902.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES A. UFFORD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Display-Forms, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to display-forms, and

has for one of its objects a provision of a novel way of connecting the arm to the shoulder-block whereby the arm may be readily inserted and when inserted will be automatically locked in place, the locking means being so constructed that the arm may be unlocked from the exterior of the form.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel construction of expansible body whereby the meeting edges of the two parts of the body will be maintained in proper alinement.

Other features of the invention will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims. r

Figure 1 is a front View of my improved form. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 0003, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on substantially the line 3 y, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the lower portion of the body, showing the manner of connecting the two parts of the divided body and the centering means. Fig. 5 is a section on the line z a, Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a top plan View of the block I employ in the neck of the form. Fig. 7 is a section on the line 6 e, Fig.6. Fig. 8 is a detail of my improved hand, and Figs. 9 and 10 are views showing how the thumb and fingers are attached to the hand.

The dress-form herein illustrated has a divided body portion comprising two members 3 and 4, which are suitably supported upon a standard 5 of any suitable construction. The neck of the body has therein the divided neck -block illustrated in Fig. 6, said neckblock comprising the two portions 5 and 6, which are secured, respectively, to the neck portions of the members 3 and 4 of the body. I prefer to make the division line between the members 5 and 6 of the neck-block of the shape shown in Fig. 6that is, with the semicircular central portion 7 and the straight Serial No. 103,167. (No model.)

end portions 8-as this manner of dividing the neck-block forms the. projection 9 on the portion which is guided between the ends of the portion 5 as the neck is expanded or contracted and makes a simple way of maintaining the two members in proper relative position in a horizontal direction.

To hold the members in position when the block is adjusted for any size of neck, I provide the U -shape clamping member 10, which is rigidly secured to the member 5, as shown, and between the arms of which the member 6 is received. The arms of the clip or clamping member are slotted, as at 11, and the upper endof the stem of the standard 5 passes through the said slots and through an aperturein the portion 6 of the neck-block, said stem having on its upper portion the clamp ing-nut 12. The stem 5 is provided with a shoulder 13, which engages the lower arm of the clamp 10, and the two arms of the clamp are held between the said shoulder and the nut 12. This provides a simple way not only of supporting the form but of holding the two members of the neck-block when adjusted to any size in alinement both transversely and in a vertical direction.

Secured to each shoulder of the body portion of the form is' a shoulder-block in which an arm 15 is supported, the said arms each being constructed with the universal joints at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist, as usual.

The shoulder-blocks are each divided and comprise the two parts 16 and 17, which are clamped together by means of clampingbolts 18. I will preferably pass the clamping-bolts through the shell of the body, whereby the bolts not only operate to clamp the two parts of the block together, but serve to secure the blocks to the body. Each portion of each block is recessed, as at 19, said recesses in each block being opposed and forming together a socket to receive the stem 20 of the arm, as usual.

In this invention I have provided an automatic locking device for holding the arm in the shoulder-block, which locking device is independent from the clamping-bolts 1S.

As illustrated, the stem 20 is provided with an annular groove 21, and one member of the shoulder-block carries a locking-bolt 22,which is under the influence of a spring 23, acting normally to project the end of the bolt into the socket. The end of the stem is beveled or rounded, as at 24, so that when the stem is inserted in the socket the rounded end, by its engagement with the locking-bolt, depresses the same and allows the stem to completely enter the s cket, in which position the groove 21 comes opposite the bolt, and the spring 23 forces the bolt into locking position. The end 25 of the locking-bolt projects beyond the shoulder-block, and I may, if desired, attach a cord 25 or other connection to said end, which cord will pass down through the form, whereby when it is desired to remove an arm for any purpose the locking-bolt may be released from the exterior of the form and without the necessity of taking the form to pieces. Preferably the end 26 of the stem will be of smaller diameter than the body portion thereof, thus forming a shoulder 27, which will be slightlybeveled, so as to pass over the projecting end of the locking-bolt. Since the device for locking the arm in place is entirely independent from the clampingbolts 18, it is possible with my invention to remove or replace the arm without disturbing the adjustment of the said clampingbolts, .and the said bolts therefore may be adjusted so as to clamp the stem between the members of the block with sufficient friction to maintain the arm in any adjusted position, and when this adjustment is once made there is no necessity for disturbing it, even though it is desired to remove the arm and replace it by another. I will preferably provide one of the members of the shoulder-block with recesses in which are confined coiled springs 30, surrounding the clamping-bolts 18, said springs allowing the two parts of the block to yield sufficiently to admit of the easy insertion or removal of the arm, but serving to clamp the said two parts against the stem of the arm with sufficient pressure to hold the arm in any adjusted position about its horizontal axis.

It is very desirable that the opposed edges 31 and 32 of the divided body be held in alinement, and I have therefore provided the U-shaped clip or clamp 35, which passes through a suitable aperture in member 3, near its edge at its lower portion, and which receives between its arms the opposing edges 31 and 32. I employ a clamp of this sort both at the front and back of the body, as shown in Fig. 4, and the arms of each of the clamps are slotted, as at 35, and through said slots at clamping-bolt 36 is passed, said bolt passing through both of the clamps, as best seen in Fig. 5. The central portion of the bolt receives a sleeve 37, which bears against the inside arms of the clamps and serves to stiffen the body portion and prevent in from crushing.

By loosening the clamp-nut 38 the waistline of the body portion may be expanded to any desired size, when by screwing up the said nut the two parts of the body are firmly held in adjusted position, the opposed edges 31 and 32 being held in proper alinement by being clamped between the arms of the clamps, which in turn are clamped between the sleeve 37 and the head and nut 38 of the bolt 36.

39 designates a loop which is secured to the sleeve 37 and through which the stem 5 passes, said loop serving to hold the waistline of the form properly centered.

The hands of my improved form are illustrated in detail in Fig. 8, and they will be each provided at the wrist portion with the suitable block 40, into which the screwthreaded stem 41 at the end of the arm is screwed.

The fingers of the hand portion, which is made of any suitable material, are flexibly secured to the body of the hand, and for this purpose I have shown each finger as having a core 42, of wire or similar flexible material. The core extends into and is embedded in the body of thehand, as shown at 43. For convenience I prefer to extend the core of one finger into the hand, bend the same to form the U-shaped portion 43, and then continue the core into the next adjacent finger, as best shown in Fig. 8, although my invention would not be departed from if the core of each finger were independent from that of the other.

In Fig. 8 the normalposition of theknucklejoint is approximately at the line marked a, and it will be seen that I have situated the joint between the fingers and the body of the hand some distance back from this line a. WVith this construction when the fingers are spread, as when the finger Z) is spread from the finger c by being moved into the dottedline position, the distance between the fingers at the line a ct is considerably greater than if the joint had been situated at the said line, and the object in this construction is to provide means for readily cleansing gloves, for if a glove be placed upon the hand and any two fingers spread apart the portion of the glove between the fingers can be exposed sufficientlyfor cleaning purposes without spreading the fingers sufficiently to break the same, while if the joint were situated at the line a ct it would be impossible to open the fingers sufficiently to clean the portion d of the glove without liability of breaking the fingers.

Referring to Fig. 9, it will be seen that each finger is cored out or cut away to form a clearance-space 42 around. the core at the base of the finger, which space provides sufflcient room for the flexible core to bend or flex when the fingers are moved without cracking the material of which the finger is made at such end or in any other way injuring the hand.

Figs. 9 and 10 show the manner in which the thumb is detachably secured, from which it will be seen that the body of the hand is provided with a locking stud or pin '71, having a suitable head 72, and the thumb has the coacting locking-plate 73, provided with an opening 74 of a size to receive the head 7 2, and a slot 7 5, leading from said opening.

In putting the thumb in place the opening 74 is inserted over the head of the stud '71, and the thumb is then given a downward movement to carry the shank of the said stud into the slot '75.

Vhile I have illustrated one form in which my invention may be embodied, yet I do not desire to be limited in all details to this construction, and I desire to reserve to myself the right to make any and all changes that come within the scope of the append ed claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A dress-form, having a divided shoulderblock provided with a socket partially formed in each part thereof, an arm having a stem to enter said socket, an automatic locking device to retain the stem in position, and means to clamp said stem between the two parts of the shoulder -block with sufficient force to hold the arm in any adjusted position, the locking device being so constructed as to permit the stem to be inserted in its socket with the arm in any position.

2. In a dress-form, a shoulder-block having a socket, an arm provided with a stem to enter the socket, means to clamp the arm in the socket with sufficient force to hold the arm in any adjusted position, and an automatic locking device to retain the stem in place, said locking device being independent from the clamping means.

3. In a dress-form, a body portion provided with a shoulder-block having a socket, an arm provided with a stem to enter the socket, an automatic locking device to engage the stem and retain the arm in place, and means operative from the exterior of the body portion to release the locking device.

4. In a dressform, abody portion provided with a shoulder-block having a socket, an arm provided with a stem to enter the socket, said stem having a beveled end and a lockinggroove, and a yieldingly-sustained lockingbolt having its end normally projecting into the socket and adapted to engage the recess when the stem is in place and a lock-releasing device operative from the exterior of the body portion.

5. In a dress-form, a two-part shoulderblock, asoc-ket partially formed in each part thereof, an arm having a stem to enter said socket, means to clamp the two parts of the shoulder-block together whereby the arm may be held in any adjusted position, and a looking device for the arm independent of said clamping means.

6. A dress-form,having a divided shoulderblock provided with asocket formed partially in each part, an arm having a stem to enter said socket, adjustable means uniting the two parts of the shoulder-block and operating to clamp the stem of the arm between them with su'liicient friction to hold the arm in any adjusted position, the construction being such that the said adjustable means may be set prior to insertion of the arm in the block.-

'7. A dress-form ,having a divided shoulderblock provided with a socket partially formed in each part, an arm having a stem to enter said socket, and an adjustable yielding c011- nection between said parts, said connection operating to clamp the stem of the arm between the two parts of the shoulder-block with sufficient friction to hold the arm in any adjusted position the construction being such that the said adjustable means may be properly set prior to the insertion of the arm in the socket.

8. In a dress-form, a twopart shoulderblock having a socket partially formed in each part, an arm havinga stem to enter said socket, means to yieldingly hold said parts together, and an automatic locking device to retain the arm in place, said device being constructed to permit of the insertion of the arm coiled in any position.

9. A dress-form having a divided body portion, a U shaped slotted clamp secured to one portion of said body and receiving between its arms the opposed edge of the other portion of said body, and a bolt extending through the slots of the clamp and holding the body to any adjusted size, the two arms of the clamp serving to hold the meeting edges of the body in alinement.

10. A dress-form having a hollow divided body portion, a U-shaped slotted clamp secured to one portion of the body at each edge thereof, the arms of said clamps receiving the opposing edges of the other portion of the body, a clamping-bolt extending through the slots in both clamps and a tubular sleeve on the bolt, said sleeve engaging the inside of the form and preventing the same from crushing.

11. A dress-form having a body, a divided neck-b1ock secured thereto,a U shaped clamp secured to one member of said neck-block and receiving between the arms thereof the other member, the arms of said clamp being slotted, and a clamping-bolt passing through said slots.

12. In a dress-form, a hand, the body of which has convexed portions at the point of union between each finger and the body, a plurality of fingers having concaved inner ends and a flexible core extending longitudinally of each finger and into the body of the hand, each core holding its finger with the concaved inner ends spaced from the corresponding convexed portion of the hand-body, and the concaved end of each finger being so shaped with reference to the convexed portion of the hand that the space between the finger end and the hand is greater adjacent the core than at the outer periphery of the finger.

13. In a dress-form, a hand, the body of which has convexed portions at the point of union between each finger and the body, a plurality of fingers having concaved inner ends and a flexible core extending longitudir o headed locking-pin projecting from the handbody, and a thumb provided with a socket to receive said pin and having a slotted plate to lock under the head of the pin.

I11 testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of I 5 two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES A. UFFORD. Vitnesses LoUIs 0. SMITH, JOHN C. EDWARDS. 

